Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 Observations from preseason loss to Saints

After the second preseason game against the New Orleans Saints, the Jacksonville Jaguars showed some good as well as some bad. And we have takeaways from the action.

Despite all of the hype for Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer, among others, arriving with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the results to this point of the preseason have been mixed. On Monday to cap off the second week of preseason play, they fell 23-21 to the Saints but trailed 23-3 at one point.

To make matters worse for the Jaguars, rookie first-round running back Travis Etienne went down with an injury that’s been diagnosed as a mid-foot sprain. The explosive Clemson product will now be out indefinitely, which is a blow to the offense.

So after another disappointing performance, let’s unpack some takeaways for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

3. Trevor Lawrence’s Two Problems Early with the Jacksonville Jaguars

Honestly, this shouldn’t be much of a shocker. Teams who receive the first overall selection in the draft rarely follow up with a great season. This year will be no different for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Trevor Lawrence should become an amazing NFL quarterback, but the game against New Orleans showed a couple of things:

1. He forces the ball in very tight windows.
2. He’s reckless with his body.

There were multiple plays where Lawrence forced the football into extremely tight coverage. He was almost intercepted multiple times in two quarters of play. He may not be so lucky in the regular season.

Rookies have trouble reading the field. This is normal, but something that’s generally been overlooked when scouting the first overall pick. Expect plenty of struggles in this department this year.

Another concerning development is Lawrence’s negligence to protect his body. On a third-down play, Lawrence scrambled and ran for the first down — but not without taking a massive hit for no reason.

If Lawrence doesn’t learn to slide (and soon), his season could be cut extremely short. You can expect Urban Meyer to drive that point home until Week 1.

2. What Offensive Line?

A running theme from early last year, the Jaguars offensive line doesn’t look like they can stop a nose bleed. Whether it was the run game or the passing attack, the men up front weren’t able to provide much for the offense to work with.

Nearly every dropback by Trevor Lawrence (and later Gardner Minshew) seemed to be followed by pressure shortly after the snap. It caused sacks, bad throws, and quarterback scrambles. If the Jaguars wish to have success on offense, Meyer is going to need to be creative with his playcalling. Simple concepts won’t get the job done this season.

1. The Jacksonville Jaguars Defense: A One Trick Pony

This shouldn’t be much of a shocker, either. Despite bringing in some new faces, the 29th ranked defense, per PFF (subscription required), from last year is unlikely to get much better. They looked bad in their first preseason game and looked bad once again against New Orleans.

For another season, the coverage is subpar. Wide receivers seemed to be open everywhere last night. Even when the coverage was good, they were still unable to stop the pass. Even when the Saints put in Taysom Hill, Hill was able to drive down the field and score before the end of the first half in less than a minute.

The second half was much of the same. Saints’ receivers were wide open in zone coverage, and Hill delivered. The only time the Jaguars defense seemed to have success is when they went with a blitz-heavy package, usually attacking the weak side. Unfortunately, the Jaguars don’t have the personnel to execute that blitz successfully on a consistent basis.

If the Jacksonville Jaguars are relying on that to have success on defense — which defensive coordinator Joe Cullen has indicated — it’s going to be a long season for the Jacksonville Jaguars and their fans.